It was an impromptu meet up at Madame Nhu amongst some of the Surry Hills locals. It started with a tweet from @surry_hills about the opening of Madame Nhu and with the offer of half price cocktails, $5 mains and $4 Lucky beer. The offer was too good to resist when @donnagow suggested a catch up on Opening Night. Madame Nhu has taken over the space where Cafe Ish used to be and is opposite Bar H on Campbell Street.

The cocktails are fairly Asian influence with Vietnamese names. They are pretty average with a good dose of alcohol. At half price, I am not complaining even though we did send back a wrong order because it taste quite undesirable. I will suggest sticking to the beers until they get a hang of mixing those cocktails. But I won’t go past the faux banh mi. Mister and I ordered a pork and duck baby banh mi each. It is definitely not authentic but absolutely delicious. At $5.50 a pop, it is of a reasonable price in Surry Hills. I did not get to try the duck but those at the table seem to have only high praise and claim that it is better than the pork. Check it out and let me know?

baby pork banh mi $5.50

baby duck banh mi $5.50

I ordered the signature beef pho. @KimAroundTown and I agree that the broth was a little too sweet. It was also missing the warm spices like cinnamon and aromatics like lemongrass. It was at least better than many of the pho around Surry Hills! The portion was quite generous and I actually quite enjoyed it. We were each given our own little plates of bean sprouts, thick wedge of lemon, green and red cut chillies and a sprig of basil. I will actually come back here again for the Pho. Not the most authentic but it will ease the pain of not living close to good pho a little.

signature beef pho

Mister ordered the Vietnamese grilled beef vermicelli salad. It was not what one expects. Where is the sweet and fishy sauce? It was served on a plate and not in a bowl like in many Vietnamese restaurants? It was also a little sweet. Well catered for the local taste buds but not my recommended choice. The table did say that it is light and fresh tasting which I agree.

vietnamese grilled beef vermicelli

I do enjoy having Madame Nhu around. My colleague and I do visit the one at Westfield food court on occasions for its infamous pulled pork rice paper roll. Super yummy and a pack of 3 is never sufficient. I am too greedy. I reckon that Madame Nhu will do well in Surry Hills. It is affordable for everyday eating. But I hope that the queue does not get too ridiculous. Welcome to the hood Madame Nhu!

It’s definitely great news that another branch has opened. Where is the westfield branch? I don’t think I’ve come across it yet. I definitely know there’s one at The Galleries food court – just had their steamed chicken and it blew me away, I was so suprised it was absolutely delicious!~Tina @ bitemeshowme recently posted..Home Cafe, Chinatown